


Up To This Point

by its_mike_kapufty



Series: Rhink Ficlets [21]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Girlfriends/No Wives, Don't copy to another site, Engagement, First Kiss, Implied Sexual Content, Interviews, M/M, Near Future, Pining, Story within a Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 02:16:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20368996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/its_mike_kapufty/pseuds/its_mike_kapufty
Summary: If Rhett's going to interview with a tabloid-esque gossip channel, he may as well be totally sincere in his answers. Set in 2021.





	Up To This Point

**Author's Note:**

> I 100% just stared at the Sixteen Candles promo for GMM season 16 until this fic fell out.  
Thank you [B](https://archiveofourown.org/users/analog08/pseuds/analog08/works?fandom_id=1373381) for beta'ing! ❤︎

“Thank you for agreeing to chat with us, Mister McLaughlin.”

“‘Course.” 

Fidgeting with the mic clipped to the lapel of his suit jacket is the best way to tie his attention from the borderline-frightening sterility of the room into which he’d been escorted. Typically—when shooting  _ any  _ sort of ‘special guest’ segment, whether it was set to air on television or posted online like this one—the accommodations were homier than white tile, chairs, and cameras. Far be it from Rhett to tell this place how to run their business, though. Especially since this production is among the most reputable in the “entertainment news” sector.

As the interviewer—a svelte young woman named Jane oozing determination—glances over her notes and takes the pen from behind her ear, Rhett does his best to relax. Crosses his legs and throws an arm over the back of the empty seat beside his that normally isn’t empty.

_ “I can’t believe you’re gonna go through with this, Rhett. What are you hoping to gain?”  _ his memory begs, and Rhett checks his phone. 

The hope that a new text awaits him is mistaken for impatience on his part, and Jane motions to one of the two producers on set. “Let’s get this thing started. Can you take that extra chair, please? I shouldn’t have to repeat myself when I say only one of them is here. Makes us look bad.” A chagrined smile flashes at Rhett.

“S’okay,” he shrugs, easing his arm to himself as the producers mumble and spirit the chair away. “Not often that one of us goes without the other.”

Jane’s eyes glint in a predatory manner, but before Rhett has time to be put off, she returns to professionalism in a wink. They’re alerted that the cameras are rolling, and right on cue, she does an introduction that Rhett has only heard a handful of times when middle-aged curiosity had gotten the better of him. 

“Hello! My name is Jane Scarlett, and welcome to another exclusive celebrity interview here on Hearsay. Today I’ll be speaking with Rhett McLaughlin, half of the comedic duo Rhett and Link, whose daily internet talk show  _ Good Mythical Morning  _ has earned over 20 million subscribers on YouTube and just finished production of its 20th season.” Jane addresses Rhett, her lipsticked smile framing her perfectly white teeth. “Twenty-twenty, huh?”

“Not anymore,” Rhett gibs, tapping his glasses. The laugh Jane puts out is fake all over, but polite enough.

“Well, Rhett—welcome, and congratulations are in order!”

“Thank you. ‘Preciate it.”

“Good Mythical Morning, or GMM as you and the fans refer to it… it’s been on for such a long time now,” observes Jane, glancing down at her clipboard. “I mean, eight years and running? That’s  _ ancient,  _ for the internet—and you and Link made videos together long before that, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” Rhett nods and can’t help the reminiscent smile that consumes his features. “Yeah, we’ve done a lot of stuff since we started. Every single bit of it’s been just a blast, too.”

“I bet! From the infamous  _ ‘Will It?’ _ taste tests where you push your taste buds to the limit, to  _ Songbiscuits _ where a song was written in a short period of time with guest stars, to the YouTube Premium show  _ Rhett and Link’s Buddy System,  _ to tackling little-known businesses nationwide in  _ Commercial Kings _ … I mean, you all’ve really put your hands in a little bit of everything.”

“I won’t disagree with that.” Rhett bounces his leg, and Jane lets out another amicable chuckle.

“It’s  _ so _ impressive! If we spoke to all of that, we’d be here for a  _ week,  _ at least—so for this interview,” Jane pauses to point her pen at the camera, “and undoubtedly the reason why you’ve clicked on this video, we’re going to be discussing how GMM has transformed not your career, but more your personal life, Rhett.”

“Let’s do it.” Rhett pulls himself tall in his seat, folding his hands in his lap and directing a hopefully-sparkling smirk at the camera recording him over Jane’s shoulder.

“Great. So, I guess if we’re going to be starting this at the very beginning, for people who are kinda out of the loop, my first question would be: when did you know you’d struck gold with Good Mythical Morning?”

Yeah—get this out of the way. The one boring question to entice strangers to care about the rest of the interview. Gotta get those views somehow.

“Oh, the  _ ‘Will It?’ _ series, for sure. The first Will It video we ever did— _ Will it Taco? _ —the views just… they blew our minds. Link and I sat down the next day, just… y’know, looked over all the comments,” Rhett explains to Jane’s patient nodding smile, “and knew we’d had an idea we just  _ had  _ to run with. Turns out people really like watching two idiots eat gross-out foods. Link was even less thrilled about the aspect than I was, as you can probably guess.”

“And who could blame him for that?! Squid ink, bull testicles,  _ cod sperm _ ,” Jane reads from her sheet, pulling a wonderfully-filmable wince of disgust. “I’m surprised Link stuck around!”

“Well, without him, there’s no me, so.” Rhett shrugs. “It was either we both did it and got paid, or neither did it and we missed a big opportunity where there was clearly something there.”

“Mmm.” The knowing look Jane gives him is sweet and too much at the same time, but she doesn’t let it linger. “And that’s a great segue into our next question, actually: when was the first time on an episode of GMM that you felt that  _ spark  _ between you and Link?”

There it is. This is the entire reason Rhett had agreed to come on this show, isn’t it? He’d known they were going to get right into the thick of things. With a hot neck, he admits to himself that he simply hadn’t anticipated Link telling him to handle this one on his own.

“So,” Rhett glances up to the ceiling and wraps his fingers around his ankle, “there was an episode we did innn… season four or five, I think? We were doing a musical about a news story, and everything kinda escalated… Anyway, it ended with, uhh. Me and Link kissin’ through a piece of plexiglass.” 

“Oh, wow!”

“Yeah.”

“But it was for a gag, right? There was no actual kissing?”

“Right. But…” Rhett hesitates, mouth fluttering, “But up ‘til that point we’d never done anything like that. So even if we weren’t really touching _ ,  _ the closeness was really just… on another  _ level,  _ compared to anything we’d done before. Like, we had this running joke about ‘oh, not yet;’ we’d come really close to kissing for the sake of sketches and jokes and junk, but always followed it up with how we’d always be right on the  _ verge  _ of kissing, yet never actually kiss. It was a joke in itself.”

“Now, I don’t wanna assume anything…” Jane lifts an oh-my eyebrow at her camera, “But that must be weird in retrospect.”

“Gonna hafta plead the fifth on that one, Miss Scarlett,” Rhett grins, and Jane breaks into tittered laughter.

“So what was  _ different  _ about that plexiglass kiss, then? You said it was a bit, after all—why did that one get under your skin when nothing else had?”

At this, there isn’t much more that Rhett can do but lean into the back of his chair and mull it over, letting his gaze slide to the floor. When he looks up again, he tries to appear serious— _ needs  _ this to be taken seriously.

“It wasn’t an “in the moment” kinda thing, when it hit me. I was watching the episode back as I do sometimes with lots of our videos, to ensure the set looks nice, that we look presentable, that the sound is all right. And I just…” Shaking his head again, Rhett clicks his gaze back up to Jane, who’s sitting rapt. “It was the stuff I  _ didn’t _ notice in the moment.”

“Would you give us an example?”

“I looked real happy,” Rhett notes with a judicious nod, chewing his bottom lip. “And Link… he looked  _ real  _ happy. Never seen ‘im that flustered. Didn’t say anything to him about it, of course. But it definitely caused a ‘spark’, like you said.”

“Well that was just the beginning, wasn’t it?” Jane eggs him on. “How did that development affect you in the episodes that came after? Did your relationship see any fall-out from that moment?”

“Aside from Link panicking and making jokes about it for weeks to come? We were the same as we’ve always been. And me—I dunno, I just thought Link was mad or somethin’, so I didn’t pay it any mind. Even if I’d felt something, or noticed something about how we’d both acted after that kiss, what could I do? I wasn’t about to risk everything. I’d’ve been fine, bein’ nothing more than best friends ‘til death do us part.”

“Is that so?”

“Absolutely. That’s what I’d been prepared for, anyway.”

“I see.” The sympathetic nod Jane gives is paired with a wet twinkling in her eye so prompt, Rhett admires her. She’d summoned that ethos  _ fast. _

“Lucky for us, I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed our behavior.”

“Oh?” 

“Shoutout to our executive producer Stevie Wynne Levine. Honestly, all of the stuff that happened between seasons five-or-so and twenty? Were  _ her _ doing.” 

“Sounds like she played quite the matchmaker for you two.”

The humor that lightens Rhett’s heart when he thinks of sneaky, conniving Stevie is genuine, and his eyes glaze over as he speaks. “She was  _ always  _ trying to nudge us just a little closer together—to break down that next wall since we were too stubborn to break it ourselves. S’like she saw somethin’ there that should’ve been obvious to everyone, but she was the only one willing to  _ act  _ on it. I dunno if it’s lucky or unlucky that she actually had the power to do so.”

Jane leans in conspiratorially, resting her chin on her hand. “And what were some of the highlights of your journey, courtesy of Levine?”

“Oh, gosh. Writing us into more and more love skits inspired by cheesy stories. Posing for promo photos where we were  _ clearly  _ meant to look like a couple—we had this one  _ Sixteen Candles  _ photo for season 16’s premiere? That was weirdly intense, just pretending like we were about to kiss. Posing for portraits together where she’d ask me to touch Link’s leg. She’d even embarrass us on  _ her _ show,  _ LTAT.  _ We, uhh, tested out how our butts looked in women’s jeans. Stevie asked us to… slap one another’s behinds,” Rhett chuckles with Jane. 

“Once, she pitched this episode where the  _ entire idea _ was to get us to kiss for real. We lady-and-tramped some noodles, and came pretty close to a real kiss, but…”

Jane waits, but Rhett can’t bring himself to put into words what had happened unprompted. Gracious host as ever, she holds a hand out to him, coaxing him into the story. “Did that cause problems…?”

“I was so mad,” Rhett admits, glancing up at her with hard eyes.

“Mad?”

“Not at Stevie, or at Link. I was mad at myself. Watching that back was like someone holdin’ a neon sign in my face tellin’ me just how big a coward I was. And immediately after we’d finished that segment, I tried to turn it around and blame it on Link—like it was  _ his  _ fault that we hadn’t kissed. That had been the whole point of the game, and we’d missed it, right? And we missed it because of me.” Unable to keep his leg still, Rhett lets it jitter. “I was scared.”

Jane is now part of the audience, apparently captivated right along with the rest of the future viewers at home. “What were you scared of, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Breakin’ something. Turning a page, and not bein’ able to turn it back if I needed to.” Running his tongue over his lips, Rhett bobs his head in thought. “I knew, by then.”

Jane offers another sympathy grimace, but she morphs it swiftly into a smile. “Luckily, we all know that isn’t how the story ended. All of that tension, all of that strife you two must have experienced individually, all of that will-they-won’t-they—you shut it down with the finale of season 18 and the infamous climax of that episode. Would you like to share how that happened?”

“Folks at home can go watch it whenever they want,” Rhett waves at the camera, eyes creasing in mirth. 

“But we want to hear it from  _ you.” _

“Sure. So, Stevie wanted to do an episode about ranking breath fresheners,” Rhett pantomimes spraying a small bottle into his mouth. “And usually in those episodes, we run a series of tests after each round. Y’know, drink some water, eat something that would—would normally give you bad breath, right? Breathe into each other’s faces and rank how bad it smells. That’s the outline, anyway.”

“Mmhm.”

“But… in this one, the test for the last round was a kiss. And Link didn’t know about it.”

Jane lights up with interest, and Rhett suddenly feels like he’s in high school at a slumber party. “And this was an open-mouthed kiss, correct? We’re not talking about a little peck here?” 

“Well—no, but it wasn’t over-the-top, or…  _ explicit,  _ or anything like that. Just—y’know, enough to test the breath freshener.”

“And you didn’t know about this either?” Jane asks, and Rhett shakes his head.

“No, I knew. Stevie came to me beforehand and pitched it, just the two of us.”

“And you said…?”

“‘Screw it’, I believe were my exact words.” 

Jane looks exactly as thrilled as Stevie had in that moment. “‘Screw it’?”

“Yeah. ‘Screw it, let’s do this.’ I was tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop, regardless of how _I_ felt. So we did the episode, and we had our blindfolds on so we could guess the flavor of the freshener. And when the time came, Stevie snuck over and tapped me on the shoulder. I took my blindfold off and… kissed Link.”

“Well, it was a  _ little  _ sweeter than that,” Jane laughs, pointing downwards. “The link is in the description, for the uninitiated and regulars alike who want to see that landmark episode. Seriously guys, it’s better than any viral video you’ll see this year.”

Landmark, indeed. 

Rhett adjusts, mulling over the pristine memory. How he’d steadied Link’s stubbled face with his hands. How the crew had hushed and fallen away from existence. How Link had quietly asked what was happening, not even moving to try and steal a peek, and how the touch of Rhett’s lips to his had sent a jolt of surprise through his co-host. How Link had relaxed into the kiss and forgotten time and space around them, learning to return that yearning in the same timid, heart-racing passion as Rhett.

“After that, were things different off-camera?” Jane cuts in, and Rhett blinks, remembering where he is and that lens are on him.

“Oh. No, actually. Nothing changed. We didn’t talk about it, not even right after. Link acted like nothing had even happened. Or… he tried to, anyway.”

“But you noticed.”

“Definitely. That same happiness from the plexiglass kiss came back full force. I mean, there aren’t a lot of things we don’t do for each other already, being best friends and life partners in the sense that we chose one another a long time ago and try our hardest to show that we still care… just trying to be considerate, right? But he started, uh…” Rhett licks his lips and huffs a curt laugh. “Started buying me little stuff that reminded him of me for no reason—which we  _ never  _ did. Started sending me selfies, which we also  _ never  _ did. It’s hard to pinpoint and relay to a person outside of our friendship, so I apologize for that, but… I could just tell. He was happy.”

“So you  _ knew,  _ then. For sure.”

“Yeah. Link Neal’s not as slick as he thinks he is,” Rhett teases, and although Jane laughs, he would feel better if the aforementioned were here next to him now, able to elbow Rhett hard in embarrassment. Maybe he’s texted since this thing began? Not like Rhett can check his phone now, but damn, he wants to.

“And then, the finale of season 20, just a few weeks ago,” Jane interludes. Rhett nods, spinning the ring on his finger absently. “Congratulations on that, by the way—both the long run of GMM, and the ‘yes’ you got on camera.”

“Thank you. Really couldn’t have gone better for me. For him, too, I hope. Hah.”

“I mean, you two have those classic GMM mugs in almost every single episode… how long did it take him to realize there was a ring in his, instead of water?”

“A long time, but that might’ve been the least surprising part of the whole plan.” Recollecting the memory, Rhett strokes his beard and speaks to the ceiling, picking words carefully. “Actually, I’m pretty happy that it came at the end of the episode. Can you imagine if he’d seen it at the beginning? He would’ve been a blubbering mess for the next twelve minutes.”

“The look on his  _ face,  _ when he saw it, Rhett!”

“I know. That was my favorite.”

“And was it also part of your plan to have that episode center around memorable wedding proposals?”

“Nah, that was Stevie again. I told her my idea and it hit her like a bolt of lightning.”

“Awesome. It truly was seamless, kudos to both of you for working together on that.” It had been perfect, hadn’t it? “How did it feel, when you looked over and saw him pull that ring out from his cup?  _ Finally, _ after having gone through that entire guessing game without Link as much as coming  _ close _ to seeing it?”

_ I’d been waiting on him for far, far longer than one measly episode.  _

Rhett scratches his cheek and can’t help smirking. Damn, he’s gonna look like a lovestruck idiot when this goes up. Well… that’s fair, he guesses.

“It was absolutely terrifying. All of these thoughts rushed to me at once, like  _ what if he says no,  _ or  _ maybe I should have done this in private,  _ or God forbid,  _ what if he doesn’t put two and two together?  _ But he did. And the agony was short-lived. I also knew he was gonna say yes, mind you.”

“You knew?” echoes Jane, lined in incredulity. 

“I did.”

“How could you tell?”

Shrugging, Rhett raps his fingers on his shoe. “I said it earlier: either we do it together, or we don’t do it. And in this case, there wasn’t a chance in hell of  _ not doin’ it _ . It was just the next step on the path we’ve been walkin’ together since we were kids. When you’re with someone for as long as we’ve been? Been right beside someone that long, and love them with all of you? There ain’t no more ‘no’. All of it’s ‘yes, and’, and it’s done hand in hand, cause you’re both scared shitless by what’s comin’. But you’re in it together. That’s what matters in the end.”

Jane only nods, squinting to absorb Rhett’s words, so he’s compelled to continue.

“That’s why I was brave enough to do it on GMM. It’s why I knew I could tell him I love him, it’s why I knew it would be okay to record it in front of all our employees and the  _ world _ ,” Rhett throws a hand at the camera. “It’s why I knew it was the right time, how I knew he’d say yes. It’s the  _ exact reason _ I know he loves me the way I love him. Always right there, every single step. One of us says ‘eat this cod sperm with me,’ the other says ‘how much of it?’”

“Goodness,” laughs Jane, but she seems grateful for the monologue. It’ll make for good content. “That’s such a beautiful sentiment. I’m sure you’ve wet more than a few eyes out there, if they haven’t already seen the beloved proposal video.” Once again, she interrupts herself, “Link’s in the description for that one too!”

Satisfied, Rhett relaxes a bit, thumbing his engagement ring and waiting for the next question.

“Speaking of hand-in-hand,” Jane mutters, her face pinching in a way that screams  _ I’m sorry, but I have to ask or higher-ups might kill me,  _ “I’m sure viewers are curious why you’re without your better half today?”

Crap. Yeah, Rhett’s kinda glad that she feels bad asking, ‘cause this is the one question he isn’t sure he can answer honestly.

The blindfolded breath freshener kiss had been fine—loss of sight often takes away the sense of impending repercussions and judgment—and the proposal had been calm and mostly quiet, taken entirely into Rhett’s hands. Link hadn’t lifted a finger for that. He hadn’t needed to show effort to proclaim  _ this is me, I’m in love with my best friend,  _ and while that doesn’t necessarily bother Rhett, it doesn’t mean  _ Rhett _ has to clam up about them. He doesn’t want to. 

This interview is how he’s addressing it—with a third party, staring the hyped-up truth in its face and telling  _ his  _ truth like it is: that he’s deeply, physically, romantically in love with the man he’d claimed strictly-platonic loyalty to decades ago. That the audience members who might be uncomfortable with the idea of them being husbands need to get over it, because that’s  _ happening.  _ This is reality. Things had changed, and that pill is gonna be shoved down the throats of everyone, even if some people don’t want it.

But Link doesn’t envision acceptance as clearly as Rhett, doesn’t want them to risk anything by being too loud about their love, even if he’d taken Rhett home the night of the proposal and showered him in rough kisses shaking moans when their bodies had come together for the hundredth time—once upon a time hushed and greedy, only then in loud celebration of  _ yet _ .

“Rhett…?” Jane asks, worried, and Rhett forces a smile.

“I s’pose he’s just more private than me.”

“Ah. That’s totally fair. You all are your own people, after all—even though you seem to be inseparable, that isn’t the ca—”

“‘Scuse me! Room for one more?”

Every head whips to the opening door of the small studio, to where Link stands escorted by a Hearsay employee. In raw disbelief, lips parted, Rhett watches as Link strolls in leisurely and tugs at his cuffs, meticulously groomed for purpose and handsome enough to make Rhett’s heart thump. He looks  _ spectacular _ in that black button-up; Rhett remembers telling him so, last time he’d worn it, shortly before it had been relocated to Rhett’s bedroom floor.

“Oh, wow—” Jane fumbles through her papers and offers a hand for Link to shake when he nears. “What a pleasant surprise, Mister Neal! Jane Scarlett. We’re thrilled to have you. Now our pair’s complete,” she jokes to Rhett, and he couldn’t agree more. This feels right.  _ Natural. _ “Let’s get you a chair, Link.”

“No need.” Link shoos the command off with a flippant hand and wastes no time plopping down in Rhett’s lap, drawing a blushing grunt from the man. “I’ll just sit here. Would that be too weird?”

Jane laughs, tickled to death over the footage they’re getting for their channel, and shakes her head eagerly. “However you’re most comfortable! This certainly fits the tone of the interview.”

“I’ll sit here, then.” Link swivels his bright-eyed smirk down to his fiancé, gleeful and expectant as Rhett’s cheeks and ears burn from the acute attention. “Sorry I’m late, bo. Traffic was a  _ mess _ .”

Rhett lets his gaze explore Link’s expression: the perfectly kissable pink lips he’d learned to claim with ease; those sparkling eyes locked onto him, begging for a hello kiss in front of  _ strangers; _ that shit-eating smile thinly veiling guilt and other, bigger apologies. “I’m glad you came,” is all Rhett can think to say, giving Link a squeeze around the midsection while cameras are adjusted to fit them both on-screen.

Shaking his head, and with a bravery fit for those blind-folded for a silly game, Link leans down and kisses Rhett in front of the studio’s crew and the universe alike. Effortless, easy, and soft, he lets it last, and only when Rhett grows bashful and presses him gingerly away with pink cheeks does Link give him another shy, apologetic smile.

“Me too.”

“Wow! I know we all saw it on GMM,” Jane butts in, helpfully bringing them crashing to reality, “but now we have footage elsewhere. This is real, isn’t it?”

Link turns to Jane with a toothy smile that eventually lands on the camera, and Rhett wants to pick him up and carry him home with kisses after he announces coyly, “Let’s talk about that.”


End file.
